A conductive polymer based electronic nose for early detection of Penicillium digitatum in post-harvest oranges.

We describe the construction of an electronic nose, comprising four chemiresistive sensors formed by the deposition of thin conductive polymer films onto interdigitated electrodes, attached to a personal computer via a data acquisition board. This e-nose was used to detect biodeterioration of oranges colonized by Penicillium digitatum. Significant responses were obtained after only 24 h of incubation i.e. at an early stage of biodeterioration, enabling remedial measures to be taken in storage facilities and efficiently distinguishing between good and poor quality fruits. The instrument has a very low analysis time of 40 s.

[1]  Jonas Gruber,et al.  Polymeric electronic gas sensor for determining alcohol content in automotive fuels , 2009 .

[2]  I. A. Hümmelgen,et al.  Physical and chemical characterization of poly(2-bromo-5-hexyloxy-p-phenylenevinylene) and poly(5,5′-dibromo-2,2′-bis-hexyloxy-4,4′-biphenylenevinylene)—comparison to related polymers , 2006 .

[3]  R. Ploetz.  Diseases of Tropical Fruit Crops , 2003 .

[4]  Jonas Gruber,et al.  Conductive polymer gas sensor for quantitative detection of methanol in Brazilian sugar-cane spirit , 2012 .

[5]  N. Magan,et al.  Volatiles as an indicator of fungal activity and differentiation between species, and the potential use of electronic nose technology for early detection of grain spoilage. , 2000, Journal of stored products research.

[6]  Conducting polymer-based chemiresistive sensor for organic vapours , 2005 .

[7]  L. Péres,et al.  The use of block copolymers containing PPV in gas sensors for electronic noses , 2007 .

[8]  Changying Li,et al.  Gas sensor array for blueberry fruit disease detection and classification , 2010 .

[9]  A. Nogueira,et al.  Electrochemical synthesis, characterization and photophysics of a poly(fluorenylene vinylene) derivative , 2006 .

[10]  Yoshio Kawano,et al.  A selective conductive polymer-based sensor for volatile halogenated organic compounds (VHOC) , 2008 .

[11]  N. Kalogeras,et al.  State of the art in benefit-risk analysis: food microbiology. , 2012, Food and chemical toxicology : an international journal published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association.

[12]  T M Dymerski,et al.  Invited review article: an odor-sensing system--powerful technique for foodstuff studies. , 2011, The Review of scientific instruments.

[13]  J. Gruber,et al.  Low cost selective sensor for carbonyl compounds in air based on a novel conductive poly(p-xylylene) derivative , 2009 .

[14]  Michele Penza,et al.  Odour Detection Methods: Olfactometry and Chemical Sensors , 2011, Sensors.

[15]  Federico Pallottino,et al.  Electronic nose application for determination of Penicillium digitatum in Valencia oranges. , 2012, Journal of the science of food and agriculture.

[16]  Lidiane Cristina Nunes,et al.  Identification of Four Wood Species by an Electronic Nose and by LIBS , 2012 .

[17]  Kazushige Touhara,et al.  The scent of disease: volatile organic compounds of the human body related to disease and disorder. , 2011, Journal of biochemistry.

[18]  L. Jacxsens,et al.  Microbiological performance of a food safety management system in a food service operation. , 2012, Journal of food protection.

[19]  M. Noferini,et al.  Innovative Non-Destructive Device for Fruit Quality Assessment , 2011 .

[20]  H. Jeleń,et al.  Volatile fungal metabolites and their relation to the spoilage of agricultural commodities , 1998 .